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Monday, 7 April 2014

Windows XP 9in1 x86 SP2 and SP3

Windows XP dies tomorrow so ive been thinking back to all the things i have seen and learnt over the years "regarding windows xp and random releases" From the DevilsOwn to the XP Delta files and it's been a wild ride for the modders and tweakers of this awesome OS.

Once hated by 98SE Lovers and slated to death by Windows 2000 users... I my self thought it looked like a nickelodeon's desk top theme lol. But none the less it gained a following and the varied releases got butchered to hell as all the random gurus jumped at the chance to built the Ultimate XP.

Case in Point...

The Discs SP3 Splash Screen (Not The OS Boot Screen)

This was first released as an SP2 disk with 9 of the favourite flavours of Windows XP by XiSO way back in March 2003. It was a clean disc featuring Home / Professional / MCE

I know that's only 8, not 9 right? but you gotta figure the 2002 MCE is their alongside the 2005 apparently. But then the Tablet CAB is present in places, so maybe its a 10 in one.

This later release with SP3 was released in May 2008 by FOX007 as Windows.XP.SP3.9in1.DVD_BY_FOX007.iso
who's name oddly rings a bell from WinMX..

Anyways... after being shown the splash screen (when booting from disc)
your presented with the Install Menu to choose an OS

OS Install Selection (from booting from disc)

The Upgrade options are only shown when running setup from within windows its self. Its got some handy extra options from boot, but sadly if you set the machine to Boot from CD it will get stuck on that menu and you'll have to keep ejecting the disk then pushing it back in.

If your machine supports either of the F10, F11 or F12 to select a one time only boot option then i would set the systems bios to boot from the HD and use the defined F key to opt for a one time boot from the dvd (yes this release was a dvd) which begs the question why no extras besides stupid cracks.

We you try to install Windows Media Centre you get a nasty error you cant get past

MCE Media Center ehiEPG.DL_ is Missing

Even the SP3 release spits out the error "Please Insert Windows XP CD2" when attempting to install on certain machines and virtual environments and it first insists on

ehiEPG.DL_ also known as ehiEPG.DLL

The default browse path its looking within is here
D:\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386
(my Drive was E: but regardless, browsing E: didn't show the file) in fact the folder only contains 3 CAB files...

Now even if you went out your way to find it, that elusive DLL, you'll still find 81 Other files are sadly missing...

82 Files in total are missing

and yet their not.. they are in there, but in a CAB\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\MEDIACTR.CAB
I am unsure if 007 updated those cabs to SP3 or if they are still SP2, but regardless setup won't continue without ehiEPG.DL_ and if you do give it the file it just looks for more, then actually fails to install the MCE features and gives a setup error during the "installing features part of setup".

What could you do to fix this?

Well if you have the SP3 version of the disk you could download windows XP service pack 3, right click on it and select Extract to WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU

This would make a folder called WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU with folders and files inside it, you would then Navigate to

WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU\i386\root\cmpnents\mediactr\i386

Then Copy the 82 Files From Their... Into Here...\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\

(or here if your using the 9in1 SP2 release)
extract XP Service Pack 2, and copy the 82 files from here
WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU\i386\root\cmpnents\mediactr\i386

Into Here...
\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\

Be it SP2 or SP3, you may also wish to put the 82 files into here, otherwise i would assume the "Within Windows Upgrade Option will also fail" i would assume, i have yet to test it.
\ROOT\XPM2\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386

What i never understood about this disk is why it was so big anyway, i mean most the Home Files are the Same as the Professional and the Corporate (aka the vlk) In fact not many files really are different, even worse so the .NET is 1.0 (not 1.1) A setupcomplete file should of checked for MCE and installed .NET 1.1 SP1 or at the very least .NET 1.0 SP3

An interesting attempt for sure, but lacking some easier tasks really.. considering the work that clearly went into it...

Additional Notes:
Installing MCE (from Boot Up) actually Installs MCE 2002 (not 2005)
To get the 2005 edition.. You should Install the MCE from boot (if drive is bare)
and then from "Within Windows" run set up, select MCE 2005 and choose Upgrade(or run it within windows and use the Create ISO option to get the discs)
Main reasons a user ends up with "Professional" instead of "MCE" is they used a Professional product key...